Hi guys,

The first day of the 2008 Formula Windsurfing Oceanic & Australian Titles was a little crazy. Gusts of over 35 knots on the course forced us to abandon racing for the day. Everyone managed to soak up the (brief patches of) sun, music from local Brisbane DJ's and fashion parades from the bikini models of Hive Swimwear however, so it was still a great day...

Have attached the press release below but be sure to checkout www.fw-australia.com for all the photos from the beach and of the girls ;)

Cheers. Sean

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The first day of competition of the 2008 Formula Windsurfing Oceanic and Australian Championships got off to a ballistic start with high winds and large seas pelting the course for the entire day, forcing the competitors to remain on the beach for most of day. With important points for the Formula Windsurfing (FW) World Ranking up for grabs as well as five qualification places for the 2008 World Championships, competitors didn’t want to let the wind go to waste despite the race director’s decision to abandon racing today due to the high winds.

By 9am at the beach the wind gusts were already up to 30 knots and with the forecast of up to 40 knots in the afternoon it looked from an early stage that racing would be action packed if at all possible. This did not stop the festivities on the beach from happening and the sailors who arrived early to register and sign-on were greeted by music from popular local Brisbane DJ act, Neon Wolves and fashion parades from Australian swimwear label, Hive Swimwear. With two bikini model fashion parades from Hive Swimwear during the morning and swimwear product available at the Hive Tent, the morning was spent relaxing on the beach watching the girls and catching up with old friends arriving at the beach to race.

Competitors from all over the world are attending this event with sailors from Greece, Denmark, Norway and New Zealand already registered as well as a strong contingent of Australian sailors from all over the country.

With frequent gusts over 35 knots during the morning and the winds consistently over 30 knots the race director decided to abandon racing for the day at 2pm and with still three days of racing left in the event many sailors revelled in the option to not get wet in the trying conditions. Despite the early-leave ticket given, two-time World Champion Steve Allen (AUS-0) began the call for sailors who wanted to test out the trying conditions rigging his new Gaastra Vapor formula board and Vapor sail. This prompted a number of sailors to rig their smaller formula kit including Danish Pro Jesper Vesterstrom (DEN-111), defending champion Sean O’Brien (AUS-120) and “adopted” Aussie Jesper Orth (AUS-10) amongst others.

In total 8 sailors made it out on the water and the rest watching from the beach cheered on the brave sailors facing the tough conditions. With 2-3m swells on the course and gusty winds up to and over 35 knots there were many spectacular crashes and close calls as the sailors made their way upwind and downwind for a practice run.

The forecast is for the wind to drop off only slightly to 20-25 knots tomorrow which will allow the competitors their first opportunity to race on the new 2008 equipment. But with the swell building overnight from today’s wind, the conditions will still be challenging and exciting for the competitors over the next few days.

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Further information about the FW Oceanic & Australian Championships as well as a media service with press releases, results, rankings, background information and photo/video downloads can be found on the official website www.fw-australia.com.





Contact and further information:

Sean O’Brien
Organising Committee Director / Media Relations
WINDSURFING QLD Inc.
252 Payne Road
The Gap, QLD 4061
Phone: 0402 467 857
E-Mail: seanobrien@aus120.com
Internet: www.fw-australia.com www.aus120.com www.windsurfing.org

Could've done with it today!

Just for the record, Steve Allen and Jesper Vesterstrom went out on 11m sails today (as that's the only sail size Steve has in the country)... A few of us guys went out after the racing was canned to sail with them... all on 9m/9.8m sails - super overpowered!!!

Steve went out for another run after we came in and the wind was surely well over 30 knots. I did see him put it in the drink a few times downwind, so yes, he is still human...

Crazy day. Probably still 20-25 knots tomorrow so we'll see what happens. We'll be racing whatever the wind is.

Hope the wind stay in for fri i have the day off.
So might see ya there

thank god they had their 9.5 s for such an occurrence as windy weather.

all the best guys for a windy titles.

lucky enough to drop by and see race 2 today. Truly spectacular to me not having seen a regatta like this before. Obviously well organised and some true talent on show. Get along if you can.

incredible how this guys can hold onto 11metre sails..i'd be flipsiding all over the place in a 7mtr..this is the experience where your board just zooms upwind and your trying to sheet out

Hi guys,

Racing has finished up for the event. We got lighter winds on the last day which made some interesting changes to the results. Top 5 placings were:

1st - Steve Allen 9.25 pts (Gaastra Vapor, Gaastra Vapors)
2nd - Jesper Vesterstrom 13.00 pts (Starboard 162, NP RS: Racings)
3rd - Jesper Orth 29.75 pts (Starboard 160, Severne Code Reds)
4th - Sean O'Brien 31.00 pts (Starboard 161, Gaastra Vapors)
5th - Sam Parker 36.00 pts (Starboard 162, NP RS:Racings)

Here's the press... also checkout the big photo gallery from Friday's racing and prizegiving ceremony on www.fw-australia.com ...

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Conditions lightened today for the final day of racing at the 2008 Oceanic and Australian Formula Windsurfing Championships. The race committee again got the maximum of four races underway over the day in 12-14 knot winds which later moderated to 8-11 knots for the final two races. The lighter winds allowed some sailors the opportunity to climb the rankings after three days of high winds and big seas.

As two-time Formula Windsurfing World Champion Steve Allen (AUS-0, Gaastra/Gaastra) entered the event as favourite, he confirmed his status as one of the best formula racers in the world by winning seven of the twelve races, ending the event with a total of 9.25 points, rightfully achieving first place overall in the regatta.

Jesper Vesterstrom (DEN-111, Starboard/NeilPryde) put in a last minute effort to take the title from Steve, winning two of the last four races today, however it was not enough to take the lead from Steve and in the end he achieved a clear second place with 13.00 points.

The fight for the final spot on the podium became a close battle today as two-time defending champion Sean O’Brien (AUS-120, Starboard/Gaastra) closed the points gap between his rival Jesper Orth (AUS-10, Starboard/Severne) beating him in three out of today’s four races. It wasn’t enough to take third spot from Jesper overall and the Western Australian took third place by a mere 1.25 points finishing on 29.75 points with Sean on 31 points.

Sam Parker (AUS-3, Starboard/NeilPryde) consolidated his 5th place lead over Brett Morris (AUS-8, Starboard/NeilPryde) and became the Masters division champion at the end of today’s racing despite retiring from the first race of the day with gear failure. New Zealand RS:X sailor Antonio Cozzolino (NZL-131, Starboard/NeilPryde) put in a strong performance considering he used a smaller sail than the rest of the fleet (9.5m RS:X sail) and managed to hold onto his 7th position overall and took out the Lightweight division.

In the Grand Masters division, Rick Murray (AUS-4, Starboard/NeilPryde) took a convincing lead over his next rival to take the division win. Mitch Stephenson (AUS-195, Starboard/Severne) took out the Youth division and Greek sailor Jason Roditis (GRE-200, Starboard/North) took out the newly introduced Formula Experience Plus division.

Suttons Beach has produced three spectacular days of racing over the four day event providing a range of conditions for the sailors to compete in from ballistic winds and large seas, to light, shifty winds on the final day. Another Oceanic and National Championships is over with Steve Allen taking both the Australian and Oceanic Formula Windsurfing Champion titles. Competitors were greeted to a fantastic two-course meal at the picturesque Sunset Blue Function Centre for the prizegiving ceremony on Friday night. Fantastic prizes of Blackberry mobile phones and trophies were awarded to the division winners as well as a chance for the competitors to catch up over a beer for the final time before the fleet departed on Saturday morning back to their homes.

The Australian Formula Windsurfing Championships now moves state back to New South Wales for 2009 and the fleet from this year’s event looks forward to another fantastically organised and supported windsurfing regatta on some of the prime beaches of Australia’s East Coast.



________________________________________
Further information about the FW Oceanic & Australian Championships as well as a media service with press releases, results, rankings, background information and photo/video downloads can be found on the official website www.fw-australia.com.

Contact and further information:

Sean O’Brien
Organising Committee Director / Media Relations
WINDSURFING QLD Inc.
252 Payne Road
The Gap, QLD 4061
Phone: 0402 467 857
E-Mail: seanobrien@aus120.com
Internet: www.fw-australia.com www.aus120.com www.windsurfing.org

Have just put up the Equipment List, Prize List and Course Diagrams...

So everyone can have a look at what gear people were using and also at the different courses we sailed over the week. Pretty interesting to see the variety of gear people use to generally all go a 'similar' speed.

Prize list will show who actually won what. We had some pretty sweet prizes including brand new Blackberry Curve 8300 phones to give away...

And a massive 80cm perpetual trophy for the Australian Champion (Steve Allen) which was custom made by Chris Ting. (). And yes, the fin trophy twists nicely and is probably as good a fin as what we are all currently riding.

Cheers~!